Les,
Here is the knife review I performed on your knife. I had a chance to get out and do work around the land today.
The pictures are all named so they are self explanatory. I performed the same tasks with this knife as I did the Strider AR I reviewed on JerzeeDevil.com.
I added a test at the end the check the strength of the tip of the blade.
The first picture is the start of the field test. The knife has the same satin finish that it was shipped with. I didn't sharpen the knife before I started.
The next two pictures are of cutting through brush around the base of a pine tree. The knife performed well, even while prying into the bark with the tip of the blade. The steel rang with the sound of a properly tempered, hollow-ground blade.
From the brush to the briars in the next two pictures. These things are very tought to cut, they are tough as NAILS!! The blade went through them without any drag. Took two swats to go through as pictured.
At this point, I took the time to show the knife grip in relation to a Size 10 gloved hand. The fit was perfect, much as I expected!!
Banana trees aren't that hard to cut through but they DO leave a sap that stains a blade blue. Only a slight amount of drag was felt cutting through the tree.
Green bamboo was next. That stalk took three cuts to go through, with only slight twisting of the blade. So far, overall performance has far exceeded the Strider AR!!!
The next series of pictures shows how dirty the blade was after the previous testing. After I wiped the blade down with a cotton cloth and saliva, you can see the spots of blue staining. To remove the blue stains, I used Formula 409 and a white ScotchBrite pad.
Here's where I deviated from my previous test. I decided to check tip penetration and strength. I had some sheets of OSB that were left over from Hurricane "Ike". I had two sheets, one on top of the other, backed with 2X4s. I used a modified overhand strike and twisted the tip on entry. Basically, I wanted to see if I could snap the tip off. The tip penetrated both sheets of OSB and lodged in the 2X4. You can see the slot is slighty oversized due to the twisting.
After I was finished, I polished the blade with a dry white ScotchBrite pad. The end result looks just like the beginning of the test. Only a few small scratches are present, I couldn't get them to photograph. As you can see, the blade looks almost perfect!! Yes, that is truly how it looked on completion, I did NOT get the pics out of sequence!!!
I hope the testing was adequate. The knife exceeded my expectations, I truly expected the tip to break off!!!!
Thanks again, Les!!!
Andy

The pictures are posted way out of whack but I think anybody that reads the narrative can figure out what's going on.

The very first picture of just the knife in the gloved hand is the start.

The next picture right after that with the bare thumb showing is after the knife was cleaned and buffed lightly with a white Scotch-Brite pad. This was after all the cutting and Ninja antics were over.

I don't know what it is in those banana trees but every blade I've cut one with has wound up with those lavender colored stains. Any botanists out there???

Needless to say this has been my go-to knife for any outdoor activity as well as a few indoor jobs.

Andy

Les George

12-14-2009, 08:51 AM

Hey Andy, did you have any problems hanging on to that slick wood, or did the handle geometry help keep it stable?

Droid

12-15-2009, 05:25 PM

Les,

Handle geometry was just fine. It was really easy to work the blade the way I needed to.

I haven't used this knife in the kitchen (nor will I) or to skin anything... yet.